On paper, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen comfortably breezed through a motion of no confidence in the European Parliament tabled by MEPs from the far right.
Some 360 of the 553 MEPs who voted rejected the effort to censure Von der Leyen. If the motion had been successful, the head of the EU’s powerful executive would have had to resign, along with the 26 EU commissioners who sit around the table with her.
The motion was tabled by a far-right Romanian MEP, over a long-running controversy dubbed Pfizergate, related to the manner in which Von der Leyen had negotiated deals for supplies of Covid-19 vaccines during the height of the pandemic.
The vote of censure was backed by 175 MEPs, who nearly all came from far-right or nationalist parties such as Law and Justice in Poland, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in France, Alternative for Germany and Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban’s party Fidesz.
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Four Irish MEPs – Lynn Boylan, Kathleen Funchion, Luke “Ming” Flanagan, and Ciaran Mullooly – were among a tiny group of others who voted in favour of her removal.
The traditional middle-ground majority that for years has held the balance of power in the European Parliament shot down the motion. Von der Leyen knew she could rely on the support of her own political family, the European People’s Party (EPP), which is the largest group in the parliament and includes Fine Gael and centre-right parties leading a dozen other national governments.
The second biggest grouping, the centre-left Socialists and Democrats, supported her, as did Renew, the smaller centrist group dominated by French president Emmanuel Macron’s party, and the Greens.
It was clear, though, that many MEPs from those centre and centre-left groupings were giving Von der Leyen a dig-out through gritted teeth. Renew, the Greens and the Socialists and Democrats are irritated at Manfred Weber, the conservative German MEP who leads the EPP in the parliament.
This “centre majority” supported Von der Leyen’s reappointment as head of the commission last year. Since then, however, Weber has been happy to have the EPP break away on certain votes and side with an alternative right-wing majority.
The EPP has teamed up with nationalist and far-right parties to gut climate legislation and block an independent EU ethics watchdog, among other things. These more extreme-right MEPs are the same ones who supported the motion of no confidence in Von der Leyen on Thursday.
[ Fianna Fáil MEPs will not support censure of Ursula von der LeyenOpens in new window ]
“Who do you want to govern with?” Iratxe García, the Spanish MEP who leads the Socialists and Democrats, asked Von der Leyen during a debate on the censure motion this week. Patience for Weber siding with those further to his right when it suits him is wearing thin. “Respect your word, and if you betray it once again, the Socialists and Democrats will lead the resistance,” García told Von der Leyen.
The leader of Renew, French MEP Valérie Hayer, had much the same message for the commission president. “Don’t take anything for granted, put your own political house in order, get a grip, so that we can work together with you,” she said.
Far-right and hard-right parties gained ground in the European elections last year, winning about a quarter of the 720 seats in the parliament. At the time many insisted that, despite a growing wave of support for populist forces, the political centre had held.
One year into this parliament’s term, it is clear the populist right have a lot more influence over the EU legislative machine, thanks to their working relationship with Weber and the EPP.
It is a situation Von der Leyen’s centrist allies in Renew, the Greens, and the Socialists and Democrats may not be willing to tolerate indefinitely.
